Sloppy Cats beat the Beavers

Brad Allis

01/11/2007

Arizona opened the game on a 10-0 run and then fought off a number of Oregon State runs to down the Beavers 83-72.

The Cats were never in danger of losing the lead, but could never put the Beavers away for good. The pesky visitors made a number of small runs to keep things interesting, while never really putting a scare in the Wildcats.

Thanks to some sloppy play, the Beavers were able to trim the lead down to nine in the final 3:00 but had two chances to cut the lead to seven or less, but could not convert.
A Jawann McClellan lay-in with 2:10 to play put the Cats up 11 and effectively sealed the win.

They did trim it down to nine one final time, but Marcel Jones inadvertently slapped the ball while it was in the inbounder's hands and drew a technical foul. Radenovic converted on the two free throws and added a lay-in on the ensuing possession.

After the Wildcats got out to the initial 10-0 lead, Oregon State head coach Jay John called a timeout to end the run. The ploy worked as OSU scored the next five points but before the could completely steal the momentum, Marcel Jones was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a slam dunk.

Arizona led by as many as 22, but the Beavers would not lie down. A Wesley Washington lay-in with 9:43 to play cut the Wildcat lead down to 10 and capped off an 18-6 Beaver run.

Marcus Williams led the Cats with 27 points but did not score in the final 10:00 of the game. He also added eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Chase Budinger chipped in a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He too had four assists and three steals.

Ivan Radenovic was the only other Wildcat in double figures. He scored 13 with eight rebounds.

Fendi Onobun got played just six minutes, but scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds.